CYBERISLAND
A computer network link to Catalina Island will provide unprecedented access to medical expertise at a moment's notice.
by Jon Nalick
Despite being only 26 miles from some of the nation's top hospitals and clinics, the 3,200 year-round residents of Santa Catalina Island remain medically isolated and underserved.
A single physician, a nurse and a handful of paramedics-though highly trained-must handle a wide range of illnesses and injuries, often without adequate diagnostic equipment.
They also lack easy access to specialists who can help determine whether patients require immediate evacuation by boat or helicopter to the mainland.
Now, USC's Advanced Biotechnical Consortium (USC-ABC) is working to equip the island with high-capacity telecommunications links that can provide unprecedented access to medical expertise at a moment's notice, said Frederick George III, executive director of the USC-ABC.
The new link will provide data transfers at up to 45 megabits per second-about 2,000 times faster than most top home computer modems-enabling physicians on the mainland to examine the patient via a video link in real time.
The program-a cooperative effort between the USC-ABC, Northrop Grumman and Pacific Bell, as well as the city of Avalon, Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics and medical specialists at LAC+USC Medical Center-is set to start in October.
Coordinated by George, the program would be funded in part by the USC-ABC, a Pacific Bell CalRen award and grants from the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the State Office of Strategic Technology.
The new telemedicine service will help not only the 3,200 year-round residents, but also provide added medical security for the more than 630,000 tourists who visit the island each year.
The project will permit the expeditious and cost-effective delivery of expert consultation to Catalina's Avalon Municipal Hospital and Clinic via telecommunications link. That alone may reduce by 50 percent the number of routine and emergency medical visits patients otherwise make to the mainland, George said.
The link will also connect the hyperbaric chamber used to treat diving accidents at the island's isthmus to the Department of Emergency Medicine at the LAC+USC Medical Center to increase the effectiveness and decrease the cost of emergency care services.
In addition, the new project is designed to serve as a model for other remote, underserved communities worldwide and also support essential infrastructure for USC's Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Catalina, George said.
Underscoring the need for greater access to medical resources on the mainland, George pointed out that in 1995, 400 people suffered serious accidents or injuries that required hospital treatment. Of those, 50 had to be airlifted to the mainland at a total cost of $250,000 to taxpayers.
Many of those evacuations might not have been required if a specialist had been able to examine the patient through a video link to rule out the need for evacuation.
